


Gravitas

by ecaracap



Category: Law & Order: SVU, Wicked - All Media Types
Genre: Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:58:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3449714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ecaracap/pseuds/ecaracap
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barba has become more and more reserved and Elphaba intends to figure out why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravitas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [queer_theory](https://archiveofourown.org/users/queer_theory/gifts).



Whenever Rafael comes home, he usually greets Elphie with a smile, even if it’s forced. She can tell sometimes that it’s forced, but usually by the end of the night, he is hers again. But before long, they go to bed and he has to leave again the next day and the cycle starts over. She doesn’t usually try to force him to be happy or even to be alright, she just tries to be as loving and supportive as she can.

Which is why when he comes home tonight completely stone faced, she knows something is wrong. When he can’t even greet her with a small smile, something at work has gotten to him. That first night, she doesn’t ask. They have dinner, they watch television and she kisses sweetly. Even at the end of the night, he doesn’t kiss her back the way he usually does. It begins to make her worry.

The rest of the week, Elphaba tries to be as kind to Rafael as she can be. She makes him dinner - though she would even admit that’s not her specialty - she gets him cake, she gives him a massage. The entire week he seems grateful for her actions, but she can tell that something inside of his mind has made him numb to the world.

After a week and a half, she can’t take this anymore. She has to know what is troubling him so much. “What’s wrong?” she asks out of the blue as they lay on the couch together.

“Nothing,” he says automatically, not even glancing over at her.

“That’s not true and you know it,” she says, crawling over to him, into his arms. She puts a hand on his cheek to turn his face to look at her, “What happened?”

For the first time in what’s felt like forever, he looks at her. He really takes a look at her face. She looks concerned. And not her normal level of concern, when he works too hard. She looks at him with such worry, the slight anxiety, that he has to take note of that. “It’s just…a case,” he says, sighing softly, looking away from her again.

“Can you tell me about it?” she runs her hand over his arm soothingly.

Rafael closes his eyes, flashes of pictures cross his mind. He wishes so much he could escape his mind sometimes, no more so than this moment right now with the woman he loves curled up next to him. But he can’t. “There was a woman. She…left her daughter alone at home. Didn’t trust anyone to watch her,” he tells her, looking down at his own hands, avoiding looking at her, “We figured after awhile that she had been abused herself. Turns out, there was just…thousands upon thousands of pictures of her floating around as a young girl. One of the most downloaded pictures for pedophiles."

Elphaba frowns deeply as she listens, all the while running her hand over his arm. She has no idea how he does it, how he’s able to go in to work each day. She always gets so emotional when he tells her about the terrible things he has to deal with, “That sounds awful. Were you able to help her? Somehow?”

“We’re trying,” he nods slowly, looking over at her hand on him, “Trying to get the bastards who did this to her. As well as the ones who downloaded her pictures too.”

“At least you’re trying to help,” she says encouragingly, though she’s not sure how much of a help her words can be to him.

Rafael sighs deeply, “I know. I just…this girl has been through so much. Whatever I can do won’t be enough.”

She runs a hand through his hair, leaning in to press a kiss to his temple. He was such a good man, even though she knows he didn’t always think that. But sometimes he takes in all the hardships he sees at work and he can’t get them out of his head, “You’re doing the best you can. That means the world to her, I’m sure.”

“I don’t know, Elphie,” he says, dejected, leaning into her more, seeking comfort in her arms, “I don’t know…” She sits on the couch with him, her arms wrapped around him. She doesn’t say anything as he cries quietly into her should, not even sure what words she could tell him right now that would make him feel better. But she wraps him up in her arms, trying to convey all her love and support to him right there as they remain wrapped up in each other.


End file.
